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Income, Education, and Marital Status

If you had to take a guess, who would you say makes more money: a high school grad or a college grad?

“Easy,” you’re thinking, “college grads make more.” And you’re right. In fact, college graduates earn about double the income of high school graduates. Now, tell me who makes more, a single guy or a married guy?

If a bachelor’s degree beats out a high school degree, does a bachelor beat out a husband? And what about the effect of marriage on education or the effects of education and income on marriage?

I recently found some stats tying all of these together. The results might surprise you.

Income

How does income affect education
The good news is, you don’t have to have a lot of income to go to college. Financial Aid is readily available to all those who qualify, which is about everyone. According to the NCES, last year 66% of all students and 79.5% of full-time students received financial aid. The government understands that education is good for our country. Just as important, our government knows that with your increased earnings, you’ll easily be able to pay back your student loans after you graduate.

How does income affect marriage?
According to the “State of Our Union” marriage study, if you make more than $50,000 a year, your odds of divorce are 30 percent lower than those making less than $25,000 a year.

Education

The average college grad (bachelor’s or higher) earns $62,421. That’s almost twice as much!

How does education affect marriage?

According to the “State of Our Union” marriage study, if you attended college for even a day, your odds of divorce decrease 13 percent as opposed to a high school dropout.

Marital Status

How does marriage affect income?

A study of retirement data concludes “individuals who are not continuously married have significantly lower wealth than those who remain married throughout their lives.” In fact those who never marry can expect 75% less wealth than those who stay married.

Additionally, men become more economically productive after marriage; they earn between 10 and 40 percent more than do single men with similar education and job histories.

Married couples receive more work-related and government-provided support and tax benefits.

How does marriage affect education?

I couldn’t find any data to indicate whether people who are married are more likely to graduate. But I did find quite a bit of information on how a strong marriage affects the education and success of children. According to “The Case for Marriage” children whose parents stay married are:

From what I’ve gathered in reports and statistics, Income, Education and Marital Status are a powerful triad of success. Each one builds up the other to feed your future success and happiness. We can’t help you much on the marriage front, but we have all the tools to help you find the right school today. Get started!